CSS Nashville
Civil War Confederate Naval Ship
Blockade Runner Thomas Wragg
Privateer Rattlesnake

CSS Nashville (1861-1862).
Later: Blockade Runner Thomas L. Wragg (1862) and Privateer Rattlesnake (1862-1863)

CSS Nashville , a 1221-ton side-wheel steamer, was originally a passenger steamer built at Greenpoint, New York, in 1853. She was seized by the Confederacy at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1861 and converted to a lightly-armed cruiser. Nashville made one combat cruise under the Confederate Navy flag, starting in October 1861. She captured and burned the sailing merchantman Harvey Birch in the English Channel on 19 November, and spent some time at Southampton, England. Returning to American waters early in 1862, she captured and burned the schooner Robert Gilfillan on 26 February. Two days later, she ran the blockade into Beaufort, North Carolina, remaining there until mid-March, when she went to Georgetown, South Carolina.

Sold to private interests and renamed Thomas L. Wragg , she operated as a blockade runner, but was hindered in this employment by her deep draft. After arrival near Savannah, Georgia, she was sold again in November 1862, to become a privateer under the name Rattlesnake . On 28 February 1863, while still in the Savannah area, she was destroyed by the monitor USS Montauk .

Drawing by George H. Rogers, depicting the ship "on blockading service off the coast of Florida, winter of 1863".
The artist served on board Adela as a Pharmacist's Mate.
Courtesy of Charles Rodgers Lord.



Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War"
CSS Nashville capturing and burning the U.S. merchantman Harvey Birch in the English Channel, 19 November 1861.

"The 'Nashville' and 'Tuscarora' at Southampton"
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1862
The CSS Nashville (1861-1862) in dock at Southampton, England, circa January 1862, with USS Tuscarora (1861-1883) keeping watch in the right distance.
Other identified ships in the distance are Dauntless and Moulton , which may be British warships present to protect English neutrality

"The Rebel Steamer 'Nashville' Running the Blockade at Beaufort, North Carolina."
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1862
The CSS Nashville (1861-1862) running into Beaufort on 28 February 1862, after her raiding cruise in the Atlantic and European waters.

Confederate Privateer Rattlesnake
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, showing her lying by the railway bridge on the Ogeechee River, Georgia, in about February 1863
.


Confederate Privateer Rattlesnake
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", January-June 1863
T the monitor USS Montauk shelling the Rattlesnake in the Ogeechee River, Georgia, 28 February 1863. Fort McAllister is in the right-center distance.

Line engraving published in "The Soldier in Our Civil War"
The Rattlesnake burning after being shelled by the monitor USS Montauk , commanded by Captain John L. Worden, USN, in the Ogeechee River, Georgia on 28 February 1863. Fort McAllister is in the right-center background, and the U.S. Navy gunboats Wissahickon , Seneca and Dawn are providing supporting fire in the left distance.


Civil War Ships and Battles
Civil War Submarines
American Civil War Exhibits
State Battle Maps
Civil War Summary
Civil War Timeline
Women in the Civil War
Battles by Campaign


American Military Gear Recruiter and History
United States Marines gear history and support of Semper Fi Fund

DVD DVD Book Book

Quest for the Monitor
The first group of non-governmental divers to dive the Monitor. All diving operations were conducted under the close supervision of NOAA.This was beautifully photographed by veteran lensman Ric O'Donnell and narrated and written by Jackie Stone. The video shows a lot of action both on the deck of the dive boat as well as wonderfully clear underwater views of the Monitor
Raise the Alabama
Known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France, where the Alabama had gone for repairs.RAISE THE ALABAMA! descends into the murky depths of the English Channel with the marine archeology team led by the renowned Gordon Watts. 200 feet beneath these foreign waters, the legendary Confederate ship is surrendering her secrets, despite weather conditions that make it safe to dive only a few days a year. The program also documents the Alabama's extraordinary career, from her construction in Liverpool to the surprise attacks that made her the scourge of Union shipping and the valiant, 90-minute battle with the Kearsarge
War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
David Mindell has combined a sensitive and incisive reading of the documentary evidence with insightful historical analysis to illuminate not only his central theme, the experience of battle in an emerging machine age, but also the process of invention, negotiation, and politics that brought the Monitor into existence and the quite different process of narration, memory, and imagination that invested the ship and its exploits so heavily with symbolic meaning.
Life in Mr. Lincoln's Navy
Ringle is among the first to examine the many aspects of sailors' lives during the American Civil War. He examines topics such as the recruiting efforts of the U.S. Navy, compensation and promotion, training, entertainment, and disease to name but a few. The extensive research and sheer fact that this is one of the first books to examine this aspect of CW naval history makes it a must for any American naval library

 

The Complete DVD History of U.S. Wars (1700-2004)
War has always been part of the American experience. From the time the first colonists set foot upon North America's shores, they were in conflict with the Native inhabitants. One hundred years later the colonies suddenly found themselves an extension of the conflicts in Europe. Less than a century later, the Revolutionary War freed the fledgling United States from its British overlords and European entanglements. Born and nurtured in war, America grew in strength and power until at the beginning of the 21st century it was the foremost military power in the world.

 

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress
US Naval Archives